The invention relates to a door-locking device, in particular for a motor vehicle, having an inside door-handle element which can be moved from a closed position into an open position by virtue of an inside door handle being actuated, having an outside door-handle element which can be moved from a closed position into an open position by virtue of an outside door handle being actuated, and having a driver element which can be coupled in a form-fitting manner to the inside door-handle element and/or the outside door-handle element by a coupling and can be moved from an uncoupled closed position into a coupled open position by the inside door-handle element and/or the outside door-handle element and by means of which, in the coupled state, a catch of a door lock can be actuated, it being the case that the coupling can be driven to move counter to a spring force from its coupled position into its uncoupled position by an uncoupling element, and that an authorization signal can be directed in a contactless manner to a control unit by a mobile authorization unit, and the outside door handle is assigned a switch by means of which, when actuation of the outside door handle begins, a signal can be produced and directed to the control unit and, when this signal and the authorization signal are present, a drive can be activated by the control unit such that the uncoupling element can be driven to move from its coupled position into its uncoupled position by the drive.
Such door-locking devices are unlocked either by means of a key or by electromotive action following the actuation of a remote control arranged on a key. The unlocked door can then be opened by pulling on the outside door handle.
All that is still necessary here for opening the door is for the outside door handle to be actuated and the door to be pulled in the opening direction. There is no need to use a key or to actuate a remote control.
If an individual with a mobile authorization unit comes into the vicinity of the door which is to be opened, then the authorization signal emitted by the authorization unit is detected by the control unit. At the same time, the control unit is brought into a state in which it allows the signal of the switch on the outside door handle, when actuation of the outside door handle begins, to replace the uncoupled state of the outside door-handle element and driver element by a coupled state. By virtue of continued actuation of the outside door handle, the outside door-handle element is thus moved from its locked position into its unlocked position and, on account of the form-fitting coupling to the driver element, the catch of the door lock is moved, via said driver element, into its unlocked position.
The door is thus only opened by actuation of the outside door handle.
The object of the invention is to provide a door-locking device of the type mentioned in the introduction which allows a more straightforward opening operation of the door.
This object is achieved according to the invention in that the displacement of the uncoupling element between the uncoupled position and coupled position can be transmitted to a locking button via a transmission element, the transmission element or the locking button being forced into its respective displacement end position by a bistable spring element, and such a clearance for movement being provided between the uncoupling element and transmission element that, when the movement of the uncoupling element from the uncoupled position into the coupled position begins, the uncoupling element executes a displacement, which is free of the transmission element, until a just sufficiently reliable form-fitting coupling between the driver element and the outside door-handle element has taken place.
As a result, until the just sufficiently reliable form-fitting coupling between the driver element and the outside door-handle element has been reached, on account of the clearance for movement, the mechanism for the locking button does not have to be moved. This also means, however, that the forces which have to be overcome in order to actuate this mechanism need not yet be overcome, with the result that, on account of the resistances which have to be overcome only being small, it is possible to achieve a short actuating time.
The resistances which have to be overcome are constituted, on the one hand, by the frictional resistances of the mountings of the transmission element and locking button and, on the other hand, by the bistable-spring-element forces which have to be overcome. The forces of the bistable spring element have to be relatively high in order for the respectively assumed positions of the components of the door-locking device to be reliably maintained even in extreme situations, with high accelerating forces, during operation of the motor vehicle.
The necessary actuating time is further reduced in that the uncoupling-element displacement which has to be overcome is kept short.
This achieves an actuating time of the order of magnitude of 50 ms, which is short enough, during normal actuation of the outside door handle, for coupling between the driver element and the outside door-handle element, once actuation has begun, to take place more quickly than does the mechanical actuation of the outside door-handle element by the actuating individual during continued actuation of the outside door handle. An uncoupled position of the coupling is thus reached quickly enough for convenience not to be compromised by one having to wait or actuate the outside door handle twice.
The mobile authorization unit here is advantageously a transmitter, of which the in particular coded authorization signal can be picked up by a receiver of the control unit.
In order to ensure the clearance for movement between the uncoupling element and the transmission element, it is possible to arrange between the uncoupling element and transmission element a spring of considerably lesser force than the spring of the bistable spring element but greater force than the spring force of the coupling, by means of which the uncoupling element is forced in the uncoupling direction.
As a result of this spring being of lesser force than the bistable spring element, which may be a tilting spring, the movement of the uncoupling element reliably takes place first of all, before the transmission element and locking button are also moved. The lesser spring force of the coupling, in turn, cannot compress the spring of the non-actuated uncoupling element.
In a straightforward and installation-space-saving configuration, the uncoupling element may be a two-armed uncoupling lever which can be pivoted about a pin and of which one end can force the coupling to move and the other end can be driven in a pivotable manner by the drive.
The drive here is preferably an electromotive reversing drive.
If the pin is a pin element which can be driven such that it can be pivoted by the transmission element and on which the uncoupling lever is mounted such that it can be pivoted freely by the clearance for movement, then it is likewise the case that only a small amount of installation space is necessary.
The transmission element may be a transmission lever which has one end arranged firmly on the pin element and of which the other end can be forced to pivot by the locking button.
If the outside door-handle element is an outside handle lever, which can be pivoted freely about a second pin, and the driver element is a driver lever, which can be pivoted freely about the second pin, it being possible for the outside handle lever to be driven in a pivotable manner by virtue of the outside handle being actuated and for the catch to be forced to move by the driver lever, a compact structural unit of straightforward construction is achieved.
The coupling advantageously has a coupling element which can be moved by the spring force of a coupling spring from its uncoupled position into a coupled position in which the outside handle lever and driver lever are connected with a just sufficiently reliable form fit.
If the inside door-handle element is an inside handle lever which can be pivoted freely about the second pin and can be driven in a pivotable manner by virtue of the inside door handle being actuated, and if the coupling element can be moved from the uncoupled position, beyond the just sufficiently reliable form-fitting connection between the outside handle lever and driver lever, into a fully coupled position, in which the inside handle lever is connected in a form-fitting manner to the driver lever and the outside handle lever, then, when the outside door handle of the locked door-locking device is actuated, the operation of moving the coupling element in its coupled position which provides a just sufficiently reliable form-fitting connection takes place with the inside door-handle mechanism uncoupled. This also means that it is not necessary to overcome any resistances which obstruct the operation of moving the coupling element quickly into its coupled position which provides a sufficiently reliable form-fitting connection.
In order to achieve a compact, flat and thus installation-space-saving construction, it is possible for the outside handle lever and driver lever to be arranged parallel one beside the other such that they can be pivoted about the second pin, the outside handle lever having a radially extending outside handle stop and the driver lever having a radially extending driver stop, of which the stop surfaces are directed toward one another, and it being possible for the coupling element to be moved radially in the direction of the second pin from its uncoupled position, in which it is located radially outside the region of the outside handle stop and driver stop, between the two stop surfaces and into its coupled position which provides a just sufficiently reliable form-fitting connection.
This compact construction is also largely maintained when, in addition, the inside handle lever is arranged parallel alongside the outside handle lever and driver lever, such that it can be pivoted about the second pin, and has a radially extending inside handle stop, of which the stop surface is directed toward the stop surface of the driver stop and the radial extent is smaller than the radial extent of the outside handle stop and driver stop, it being possible for the coupling element to be moved radially in the direction of the second pin from its uncoupled position, beyond the coupled position between the stop surfaces of the outside handle stop and driver stop, this position providing a just sufficiently reliable form-fitting connection, between the stop surfaces of the inside handle stop and driver stop and into the fully coupled position.
The radially smaller extent of the inside handle stop in relation to the radial extent of the outside handle stop and driver stop ensures that the inside door-handle mechanism can only be actuated when the coupling element is in the fully coupled position.
In a straightforward and space-saving manner, the coupling element may be a coupling slide which is guided such that it can be displaced radially in relation to the second pin, and has a coupling stop which extends parallel to the second pin and can be moved between the stop surfaces.
A flat, installation-space-saving construction is also achieved if the first pin and the second pin extend parallel to one another and the coupling slide has an uncoupling stop which can be forced to move in the uncoupling direction by the uncoupling lever.
An exemplary embodiment of the invention is described in more detail hereinbelow and illustrated in the drawing, in which: